The Cookout (2004)

Critic Reviews

• J. R. Jones, Chicago Reader

  This is one dull party.

• Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly

  Todd's payday apparently sends comedy backward in time, and we're in the 1970s, ethno-sitcom style.

• Frank Scheck, Hollywood Reporter

  A painfully unfunny, would-be comedy.

• Akiva Gottlieb, Village Voice

  The pointlessness of The Cookout exudes a modicum of charm, but the simple-minded mess still lacks the wit and moral weight of an episode of Family Matters.

• Joe Leydon, Variety

  Proceeds at a rambling pace without developing much in the way of comic momentum or scoring many laugh-out-loud high points.

• Carla Meyer, San Francisco Chronicle

  The jokes are not just stale; they can also be labor-intensive.

• Nell Minow, Common Sense Media

  Avoid this gross, raunchy comedy at all costs.

• Michael Dequina, TheMovieReport.com

  The very definition of an easy target--and, in all fairness, it deserves every last bit of criticism.

• Jim Lane, Sacramento News & Review

  Director Lance Rivera has never directed a movie before, and he doesn't start here.

• Keith Phipps, AV Club

  Seemingly assembled from ideas on the cutting-room floor of a cancelled sitcom.

• Pablo Villaca, Cinema em Cena

  Uma "comédia" sem a menor graça que, com seus estereótipos ofensivos a brancos, negros e homossexuais, falha não só do ponto de vista cinematográfico, mas também humano.

• Frank Ochieng, TheWorldJournal.com

  ...a taxing and intolerable vehicle that has all the charm of a gold-toothed rapper's root canal. The Cookout is certainly not any food for thought.

• Anthony Del Valle, Las Vegas Mercury

  It's low comedy and it's crudely made. But that's no excuse for it being dull.

• Kimberley Jones, Austin Chronicle

  Everything else here -- from the gross caricatures to the so-called comic mayhem -- is sour to taste.

• Vince Koehler, Entertainment Spectrum

  Plenty of action and confusion in this wild story that culminates in a cookout.

• Timothy Knight, Reel.com

  The movie unfolds in the most perfunctory fashion. At least the food looks good.

• David Noh, Film Journal International

  It does provide some true laughs and, incredibly, some real humanity.

• Brooke Holgerson, Boston Phoenix

  Director Lance Rivera raises some legitimate questions about moving up versus selling out and the commodification of professional athletes, but he couldn't care less about answering them.

• Cynthia Fuchs, PopMatters

  Rippin' and Dippin'

• James Sanford, Kalamazoo Gazette

  This is one more entry in the long list of 'urban comedies' that dish out the kind of humor that would probably spark protests if the filmmakers weren't African-American.

Read all 22 critic reviews